alexarkadin wrote:
In his deposition Lee says he created every key concept, and presented them to the artists to draw. The judge doesn't question Lee's testimony at all, because there is no one who can contradict it who has first hand knowledge.
But the judge also says that the issue of who created the characters was not relevant to her decision.  She was ruling solely on the issue of whether the work was done for hire, and she concluded it was.  Allowing Evanier's testimony would not have made a bit of difference in this case, nor would it have mattered if Kirby had been alive to testify.  Nobody disputes the facts of how work was assigned or the manner in which Kirby got paid.  What was in dispute was whether this arrangement constituted work for hire or not.  It seems the Kirby Estate's argument hinged largely on the notion that Kirby was working on spec because he was not paid for rejected pages, and the judge rejected this argument.  If she had concluded the work was not done for hire, then I imagine the issue of character creation and Stan's testimony about it would have become important, but it did not reach that stage.